Adding my race report...

Swim:
I had psyched myself out a little before the swim. I'm not the fastest swimmer and was worried about the 5 waves of men coming behind me, envisioning them swimming over me. So, when I got in the water, the nervous energy got to me. My heartrate was a little high and I had troubles getting my breathing under control. I had to breaststroke for the first 100 yards or so. Finally settled in and swam well for the rest of the distance. The combination of wearing a wetsuit and having a strong current was a big help to me. Despite the slow start, I finished in 34:26.

Bike:
Nice course. My goal was to hold an 18 mph pace and I did it. Initially, it looked like I might be a little faster but the hills and headwind got to me. Still, on track there.

Run:
Came out of transition feeling good and thought I'd have a chance to finish in 6 hours. Given that my main goal was to finish in 6:30 and my stretch goal was to finish in 6:15, I was elated. Well, that didn't last long. After the first mile, I started to feel some nausea and had to switch from a run to a run-walk. I thought I had hydrated properly up to that point but was definitely feeling the effects of the heat. Just kept moving and made sure I got gatorade and/or water at each aid station. That helped and I continued with a solid run/walk pace. At the 2nd to last aid station, they were out of cups so I didn't take on any fluids there. I briefly considered picking up one of the used cups from the ground but decided to push on. By mile 12, I was wishing I had picked up one of those cups because I was hurting. My husband happended to be standing in that area cheering me on. That gave me a boost and helped keep me moving. As I approached the final aid station (maybe 1/4 mile to go), I looked at my watch and realized that if I kept pushing I might beat my stretch goal. So I dug deep, passed up the aid station, and kept moving to the finish. My final time was 6:13. I beat my stretch goal by 2 min and my last HIM time by 22 min.

Even though I had such a challenging run, I'm thrilled with how I finished. I've struggled quite a bit with my running after my accident last year so I didn't expect to do well there. My muscles are sore today from the exertion and I'm still trying to recover from the dehydration but I finished with no pain in the injured leg and that is huge.